Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has said his government is making efforts to make the state selfsustaining so that it does not have to look towards central funds. In an interview with Mukesh Ranjan on completing one year in office, he asserts that the JMM-led alliance government is strongest among all the governments” in the last 20 years, as it was formed without any charges of horse-trading.
How do you see the last one year of your government? What challenges did you face?
I had to face various new challenges. We’ve handled them, and continue to deal with them, very efficiently. As we were able to manage the pandemic situation efficiently, today we are among the top three-four states where there is a better recovery rate and the fatality rate is the lowest in the country. Most importantly, I was the first chief minister who advocated for bringing our migrant labourers back to their homes, which actually meant inviting coronavirus to our state.
Why do you think so? What makes you stand out among other states?
You can recall that during the last BJP government, when there were no pandemic, more than two dozen people had died of starvation. But despite the pandemic this year, not a single person died of hunger in the last one year. One case of starvation death has been reported from Dhanbad, which is being investigated. Anybody found responsible for it will not be spared. We also provided free food to the poor and needy during lockdown. As far as providing job opportunities to the migrants is concerned, we created more than 8 crore mandays as compared to the maximum of 2.5-3 crore mandays created by the previous governments.
The opposition has accused you of making fake promises during elections?
If everything is closed and life has come to a standstill due to the lockdown, how do you expect any government to fulfill the promises? But, we made a good start and declared the results of Jharkhand Public Services Commission examination, which was held up by the earlier government for five years. We tried to utilise whatever opportunities we got during the lockdown. When we started taking steps towards them, we were surprised to see that they (the previous governments) have destroyed everything, which needs to be corrected to fulfill our promises. This is the reason why we took one long year to decide over the farm loan waiver.
A government would be able to offer to its people only if it has something in its pocket (treasury). As the financial condition of the state is not very sound, we will first set it right and then take up issues. We are working with an intention to protect the ‘Adivasi-Moolwasi’ of this state by providing them their due rights. This government will be different from any other government in the past.
The Opposition also says that nothing was done during the last one year. What important decisions, according to you, have been taken in the last one year?
There are several decisions which we have taken, whether it is social security, women’s security, health or education sector, we have started taking steps towards strengthening the backbone of this state. Several new policies have been chalked out and reforms brought to make Jharkhand financially strong. Generally, all thinking runs around mineral resources, but we are working towards giving new directions to utilize other resources available under which new tourism and sports policies are framed.
New rules for Jharkhand Public Services Commission are made to avert controversies related to it. Since Jharkhand has a huge population of the underprivileged, we have decided to provide ration to additional 15 lakh people; there are provisions for universal old age pension, pension to widows. Jharkhand will be the first state where tribal students studying in foreign countries will get scholarships.
Under the women empowerment scheme, liquor brewing women are being rehabilitated by providing alternative livelihood opportunities. In a revolutionary step, each district will have a model school which will be fully recognized by the Central Board of Secondary Education so that children of the underprivileged living in the remote areas could also get quality education.
Several new initiatives are being taken such as providing Rs 1 lakh ex-gratia to family members of a road accident victim or any other accidents. Besides, a tribal university will be inaugurated in Jamshedpur very soon.
You have frequently complained that the Centre is not supporting your government, particularly on clearing GST and other dues. What steps have you taken to overcome this situation?
I believe there should be smooth coordination between the Centre and state government to strengthen the federal structure, but in the last one year, we’ve had a very bitter experience. For instance, on the one hand, the Damodar Valley Corporation was threatening to cut off the power supply and, on the other, funds were being reduced from our RBI consolidated fund and GST dues were also not cleared. Therefore, in order to shrink dependency on the Central government, several new policies have been chalked out and reforms brought in to make Jharkhand financially strong.
Efforts are being made to make Jharkhand self-sustaining so that it does not have to look towards the Centre for every requirement. Unfortunately, no efforts were made in the last 20 years towards making Jharkhand self-reliant. We are also pursuing with the Centre on clearing our dues against the public sector, which is pending since independence following which the first installment of `250 crore was given, which is too little. We are regularly raising this issue with the Centre.
Allegations are being made against the governing for not allowing Babulal Marandi to become leader of the Opposition in the Assembly?
The BJP is strategically doing this as it knows that the government has to do a lot of work and the role of the leader of Opposition plays an important role in it. They want to stop us from doing any work so that they can exploit the issue for political gains. They must know this government is the strongest among all the governments in the last two decades. This is not a government formed by horse-trading. Therefore, there must be a basis for making any allegations. The BJP is a leaderless party that lacks thinking.